Saturday, 13 April 2013

Teacher fired for Bible quote: ‘Religious discrimination and retaliation’, A teacher fired for the Bible quote "So the last will be first, and the first will be last" intended to make a student feel better because he was last in line. The substitute teacher did not only succeed in making the student feel better but also sparked the student’s curiosity about the Bible. After the long-time substitute teacher showed the student his personal copy of the Bible, he was suspended from teaching just three days later, reported the Western New Jersey Times on April 11, 2013.

“The quote, Tutka said, prompted the student to ask several times where it came from, leading Tutka to show the student his personal copy of the Bible on Oct. 12.”

On Oct. 12, 1012, Walt Tutka was teaching in the Phillipsburg Middle School in New Jersey. Three days after having shared his Bible, the school district suspended Walt Tutka.

On Jan. 14, 2013, the school board voted to fire him.

Walt Tutka has filed a complaint against the Phillipsburg School District. According to the complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Walt Tutka claims “religious discrimination and retaliation” as the reasons for his dismissal from the district in January.

The teacher who was fired for sharing his knowledge and his personal copy of the Bible is being represented by Liberty Institute, a New Jersey law firm.

While Phillipsburg School District Superintendent George Chando has not yet returned a call about the complaint to the Western New Jersey Times, Hiram Sasser, the director of the law firm representing Walt Tutka has commented that,

“It is shocking that the school district has forced Walt to file a complaint with the EEOC for religious discrimination. All Walt did was respond to a student’s intellectual curiosity and the school district suspended and then terminated him."